Friday, January 20, 2006

Only days after BT and Virgin Mobile trumpeted the results of their mobile TV trial in the UK using DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) O2 has announced a glowing ‘interim’ report from its UK mobile TV trial in Oxford.

Using the Nokia-backed DVB-H (Digital Video Broadband – Handheld) wireless broadcast standard, 83 per cent of the 375 triallists (comprising a wide range of demographics) said they were ‘satisfied’ with the service provided. Moreover, 76 per cent of the triallists said they would take up the service within 12 months.

While this reflects the apparent high consumer demand for mobile TV shown in the DAB mobile TV trial, one surprising difference between the two pilots is the average length of viewing time per week. BT/Virgin found that users, on average, watched TV on their mobile for about an hour per week, while the average viewing time from the DVB-H trial -- overall -- turned out to be three hours a week. The increased viewing time from the Oxford trial can perhaps be explained by the greater channel choice with DVB-H. O2 was able to offer its mobile TV users a choice of 16 channels, while BT/Virgin could only offer three. However, DAB supporters point out that they too will be able to broadcast 15-20 TV channels within 12-18 months.

O2 is conducting its DVB-H trail in Oxford in partnership with Arqiva, which has a national transmitter network across the UK. Both O2 and Arqiva expect to announce the final results from the Oxford mobile TV trial this spring.